I can't help but think of the movie the Big Short. There's a large pool of social media marketers, influencers and other tangentially related businesses, all in some way propped up by this fake activity. They're not unlike all the hands that got involved in the mortgage business and securitizing of sub-par, high risk loans. If only there was a way to "short" the Instagram industry.

p.s. To those debating what constitutes a "fake" account, don't forget that the term was only recently invented: https://www.avclub.com/merriam-webster-points-out-that-trump...